Beam energy dependence of cumulants of the net-baryon, net-charge and deuteron multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3.0-5.0$ GeV
Yunxiao Ye, Yongjia Wang, Qingfeng Li, Dinghui Lu, Fuqiang Wang
Within the ultra-relativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model, in which the Lorentz-covariant treatment of nuclear mean-field potential is considered, the fluctuations of net-baryon, net-charge and deuterons multiplicity distributions in Au+Au head-on collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=3.0-5.0$ GeV are calculated. The results show that the nuclear mean-field potential can significantly enhance the magnitude of baryon number fluctuations in narrow rapidity windows, and this enhancement rapidly weakens with increasing beam energy. However, for proton and net-charge number fluctuations, the mean-field effects are less noticeable than that for baryon number. In addition, for net-charge number fluctuations, the negative binomial distribution agrees well with the calculated results at mid-pseudorapidity window. Finally, the event-by-event fluctuations of deuteron number in the coalescence production picture are calculated as well, it is found that its cumulant ratios decrease linearly with increasing the average multiplicity of deuterons per event, i.e., increase with increasing beam energy.
We studied the effects of centrality fluctuation and deuteron formation on the cumulants ($C_n$) and correlation functions ($κ_n$) of protons up to sixth order in most central ($b<3$ fm) Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 3 GeV from a microscopic transport model (JAM). The results are presented as a function of rapidity acceptance within transverse momentum $0.4<p_{T}<2 $ GeV/$c$. We compared the results obtained by centrality bin width correction (CBWC) using charged reference particle multiplicity with CBWC done using impact parameter bins. It was found that at low energies the cen…
I investigate the volume corrections on cumulants of total charge distributions and net proton distributions. The required volume information is generated by an optical Glauber model. I find that the corrected statistical expectations of multiplicity distributions mimic the negative binomial distributions at non-central collisions, and they tend to approach the Poisson ones at most-central collisions due to the "boundary effects," which suppress the volume corrections. However, net proton distributions and reference multiplicity distributions are sensitive to the external volume fluctuations a…
We construct a multiplicity distribution characterized by large factorial cumulants (integrated correlation functions) from a simple combination of two ordinary multiplicity distributions characterized by small factorial cumulants. We find that such a model, which could be interpreted as representing two event classes, reproduces the preliminary data for the proton cumulants measured by the STAR collaboration at $7.7$ GeV very well. This model then predicts very large values for the fifth and sixth order factorial cumulants, which can be tested in experiment.
We study the influence of quantum interference and colour flow on three point correlations described by asymmetric cumulants in high multiplicity events in pp collisions. We use the model previously developed for the study of the collectivity in symmetric cumulants. We show that the resulting three point asymmetric cumulant is in qualitative agreement with the experimental data for the same parameters of the model as it was with the symmetric cumulants. Our results show that the initial state correlations must play a major role and may be even dominant in the explanation of the correlations in…
In this note we extend previous work on efficiency corrections for cumulant measurements [1,2]. We will discuss the limitations of the methods presented in these papers. Specifically we will consider multiplicity dependent efficiencies as well as a non-binomial efficiency distributions. We will discuss the most simple and straightforward methods to implement those corrections.
We studied the centrality selection effect on cumulants (up to fourth order) and the cumulants ratios of net-proton multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 7.7, 19.6 and 200 GeV from UrQMD model. The net-proton cumulants are calculated with collision centralities by using charged particle multiplicity from different pesudorapidity ($η$) region. By comparing the results from various collision centralities, we found that the autocorrelation effects are not significant in the results with collision centralities "refmult-3" and "refmult-2", which are using mid-…
We investigate the measurement of the sixth order cumulant and its ratio to the second order cumulant ($C_6/C_2$) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The influence of statistics and different methods of centrality bin width correction on $C_6/C_2$ of net-proton multiplicity distributions is demonstrated. There is no satisfactory method to extract $C_6/C_2$ with the current statistics recorded at lower energies by STAR at RHIC. With statistics comparable to the expected statistics at the planned future RHIC Beam Energy Scan II (BES II), no energy dependence of $C_6/C_2$ is observed in central…
Fluctuations of conserved quantities are sensitive observables to probe the signature of QCD phase transition and critical point in heavy-ion collisions. With the UrQMD model, we have studied the centrality and energy dependence of various order cumulants and cumulant ratios (up to fourth order) of net-proton,net-charge and net-kaon multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4, 200 GeV. The model results show that the production mechanism of the particles and anti-particles have significant impacts on the cumulants of net-particles multiplici…
Initial volume fluctuation (VF) arising from the participant fluctuation would be the background which should be subtracted experimentally from the measured higher-order cumulants. We study the validity of the Volume Fluctuation Correction (VFC) on higher-order net-proton cumulants by using simple toy model and UrQMD model in Au+Au collisions at \sqrt s_{NN} = 200 GeV for various centrality definitions. The results are compared to the conventional data driven method called Centrality Bin Width Correction (CBWC). We find VFC works well in toy model assuming independent particle production (IPP)…
We report the higher order cumulants and their ratios for baryon, charge and strangeness multiplicity in canonical and grand-canonical ensembles in ideal thermal model including all the resonances. When the number of conserved quanta is small, an explicit treatment of these conserved charges is required, which leads to a canonical description of the system and the fluctuations are significantly different from the grand canonical ensemble. Cumulant ratios of total charge and net-charge multiplicity as a function of collision energies are also compared in grand canonical ensemble.
By deriving a general expression for multiplicity distribution (a conditional probability distribution) in statistical model, we demonstrate the mismatches between experimental measurements and previous theoretical calculations on multiplicity fluctuations. From the corrected formula, we develop an improved baseline measure for multiplicity distribution under Poisson approximation in statistical model to replace the traditional Poisson expectations. We find that the ratio of the mean multiplicity to the corresponding reference multiplicity are crucial to systemically explaining the measured sc…
We propose a method to remove the contributions of pileup events from higher-order cumulants and moments of event-by-event particle distributions. Assuming that the pileup events are given by the superposition of two independent single-collision events, we show that the true moments in each multiplicity bin can be obtained recursively from lower multiplicity events. In the correction procedure the necessary information are only the probabilities of pileup events. Other terms are extracted from the experimental data. We demonstrate that the true cumulants can be reconstructed successfully by th…
We determine the net-baryon multiplicity distribution which reproduces all cumulants measured so far by lattice QCD. We present the dependence on the volume and temperature of this distribution. We find that for temperatures and volumes encountered in heavy ion reactions, the multiplicity distribution is very close to the Skellam distribution, making the experimental determination of it rather challenging. We further provide estimates for the statistics required to measure cumulants of the net-baryon and net-proton distributions.
We analyze the rapidity and transverse momentum dependence for the cumulants of the net-proton and net-baryon distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}} = 5\,\text{GeV}$ with a microscopic hadronic transport (JAM) model. To study the effects of mean field potential and softening of equation of state (EoS) on the fluctuations of net-proton (baryon) in heavy-ion collisions, the calculations are performed with two different modes. The softening of EoS is realized in the model by implementing the attractive orbit in the two-body scattering to introduce a reduction pressure of the s…
We re-analyze the conditions for the phenomenon of intermittency (self-similar fluctuations) to occur in models of multifragmentation. Analyzing two different mechanisms, the bond-percolation and the ERW (Elattari, Richert and Wagner) statistical fragmentation models, we point out a common quasi-gaussian shape of the total multiplicity distribution in the critical range. The fixed-point property is also observed for the multiplicity of the second bin. Fluctuations are studied using scaled factorial cumulants instead of scaled factorial moments. The second-order cumulant displays the intermitte…
Two scenarios for cluster production have since long been discussed in the literature: i) direct emission of the clusters from a (grand canonical) thermal source or ii) subsequent formation of the clusters by coalescence of single nucleons. While both approaches have been successfully applied in the past it has not yet been clarified which of the two mechanisms dominates the cluster production. We propose to use recently developed event-by-event techniques to study particle multiplicity fluctuations on nuclear clusters and employ this analysis to the deuteron number fluctuations to disentangle…
We performed systematic studies on the effects of event-by-event efficiency fluctuations on efficiency correction for cumulant analysis in relativistic heavy-ion collision experiments. Experimentally, particle efficiencies of events measured under different experimental conditions should be different. For fluctuation measurements, the final event-by-event multiplicity distributions should be the superposed distributions of various type of events measured under different conditions. We demonstrate efficiency fluctuation effects using numerical simulation, in which we construct an event ensemble…
The mechanism of deuteron production in heavy-ion collisions is shown to have a significant impact on the shape of the modified combinants of their multiplicity distribution. In light of this observation, an experimental study is proposed to tackle the long-standing problem of nuclei synthesis in hadronic and nuclear collisions. The proposed approach has the potential to provide stringent constraints on the models of deuteron synthesis.
Volume or centrality fluctuations (CF) is one of the main uncertainties for interpreting the centrality dependence of many experimental observables. The CF is constrained by centrality selection based on particle multiplicity in a reference subevent, and contributes to observables measured in another subevent. Using a Glauber-based independent source model, we study the influence of CF on several distributions of multiplicity $N$ and eccentricities $ε_n$: $p(N)$, $p(ε_n)$, $p(ε_n,ε_m)$ and $p(N,ε_n)$, where the effects of CF is quantified using multi-particle cumulants of these distributions. …
Higher-order cumulants of the distributions of conserved charges, such as net-baryon number, are sensitive to the quantum chromodynamics(QCD) phase transition and the QCD critical point. We calculate the cumulants and correlation functions of proton, antiproton, and net-proton multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7$ GeV using a multiphase transport model(AMPT). The AMPT model can basically describe the trends of cumulants, cumulant ratios, (normalized) correlation functions of the proton and net-proton measured by the STAR experiment. The multiproton (baryon) co…
The probability density functions of proton, anti-proton, and net-proton multiplicity distributions are constructed from the Beam Energy Scan results of the STAR experiment using the Pearson curve method. The constructed distributions of proton and anti-proton are compared with Poisson and Binomial distributions. The net-proton probability distributions are compared with Skellam distributions to study the O(4) criticality near the chiral crossover transition. The $C_{6}/C_{2}$ results estimated from the obtained PDFs are compared with Skellam and Binomial baselines for the Beam Energy Scan dat…
We calculate the cumulants and correlation functions of net-kaon multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7$ GeV using a multiphase transport model (AMPT) with both a new coalescence mechanism and all charge conservation laws. The AMPT model can qualitatively describe the centrality dependences of the net-kaon cumulants and cumulant ratios measured by the STAR experiment. By focusing on the stage evolution of the cumulants, cumulant ratios, and correlation functions, we reveal several key effects on the fluctuations and correlations of strangeness during the dynamic…
We compute transverse momentum and momentum integrated multiplicity distributions consistently in the IP-Glasma model for proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at the LHC, in deuteron-gold collisions at RHIC, and in heavy ion collisions at both RHIC and LHC energies. Several sources of sub-nucleon scale contributions to the multiplicity distributions are identified. Our results, which are constrained by inclusive and diffractive deeply inelastic scattering data from HERA, are compared to measured distributions for a range of collision energies. These results are an essential first step in q…
Predictions are made for elliptic flow in collisions of polarized deuterons with a heavy nucleus. It is shown that the eccentricity of the initial fireball, evaluated with respect to the deuteron polarization axis perpendicular to the beam direction, has a substantial magnitude for collisions of highest multiplicity. Within the Glauber approach we obtain $\sim 7\%$ for the deuteron states with spin projection 0, and $\sim -3 \%$ for spin projection $\pm 1$. We propose to measure the elliptic flow coefficient as the second order harmonic coefficient in the azimuthal distribution of produced cha…
Using the nucleon coalescence model based on kinetic freeze-out nucleons from the 3D MUSIC+UrQMD and the 2D VISHNU hybrid model with a crossover equation of state, we study the multiplicity dependence of deuteron ($d$) and triton ($t$) production from central to peripheral Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=$ 7.7, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4 and 200 GeV and Pb+Pb at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=2.76$ TeV, respectively. It is found that the ratio $N_t N_p/N_d^2$ of the proton yield $N_p$, deuteron yield $N_d$ and triton yield $N_t$ exhibits a scaling behavior in its multiplicity dependence, i.e., …
In this paper, we present a novel event-shaped cumulants (ESC) response approach, based on a multi-phase transport (AMPT) model simulations, to analyze p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 5.02 TeV. We find that the Pearson coefficients between the subset cumulants of the final harmonics $v_{2}\{2k\}~(k=1,2,3,4)$ and the subset cumulants of initial eccentricity $\varepsilon_{2}\{2k\}$ in the ESC basis are significantly enhanced. These Pearson coefficients are strongly-dependent on the charged multiplicity, the set number of events (SNE), and only weakly-dependent on the order of the multi-parti…
We explore the possibility of observing elliptic flow in low multiplicity events in central pp collisions at LHC energy, $\sqrt{s}$=14 TeV. It is assumed that the initial interactions produces a number of hot spots. Hydrodynamical evolution of two or more hot spots can generate sufficiently large elliptic flow to be accessible experimentally in 4-th order cumulant analysis.
We study the effects of correlations on cumulants and their ratios of net-proton multiplicity distributions which have been measured for central (0\%-5\%) Au + Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This effect has been studied assuming individual proton and anti-proton distributions as a Poisson or Negative Binomial Distribution (NBD). In-spite of significantly correlated production due to baryon number, electric charge conservation and kinematical correlations of protons and anti-protons, the measured cumulants of the net-proton distribution follow the independent produ…
This proceeding briefly summarizes our recent work on calculating the correlated fluctuations of net protons on the hydrodynamic freeze-out surface near the QCD critical point. For both Poisson and Binomial baselines, our calculations could roughly reproduce the energy dependent cumulant $C_4$ and $κσ^2$ of net protons, but always over-predict $C_2$ and $C_3$ due to the positive contributions from the static critical fluctuations.
The equation of gluodynamics with modified integral kernel is solved up to 2NLO (next-to-next-to-leading order) and 3NLO (next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order) in perturbative QCD. A relationship between the nuclear factor Ns and the ratio of the cumulant and factorial moments of the multiplicity distribution is examined. A comparison of theoretical results and experimental data in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at 200A GeV and 546A GeV is carried out.
Higher-order cumulants of conserved charge distributions are sensitive observables to probe the critical fluctuations near QCD critical point in heavy-ion collisions. Due to high interaction rate, pileup event can be one of the major sources of background in the measurements of higher-order cumulants. In this paper, we studied the effects of pileup events on higher-order cumulants of proton multiplicity distributions using UrQMD model. It is found that the proposed pileup correction fails if the correction parameters are determined by the Glauber fitting of charged particle multiplicities, whi…
The evolution of multiplicity distribution of a species which undergoes chemical reactions can be described with the help of a master equation. We study the master equation for a fixed temperature, because we want to know how fast different moments of the multiplicity distribution approach their equilibrium value. We particularly look at the 3rd and 4th factorial moments and their equilibrium values from which central moments, cumulants and their ratios can be calculated. Then we study the situation in which the temperature of the system decreases. We find out that in the non-equilibrium state…
With the help of AMPT default model, we study the influence of initial size (centrality of collisions) on higher cumulant ratios of net-proton distributions. If the centrality is presented by impact parameter, there is a strong centrality dependent, in particular, in those peripheral collisions. This dependence is slightly reduced if the centrality is presented by number of participant, or charged multiplicity. However, the dynamical ratios are almost centrality independent. So the centrality dependence of dynamical ratios at RHIC beam energy scan are presented.
We study the dependence of the normalized moments of the net-proton multiplicity distributions on the definition of centrality in relativistic nuclear collisions at a beam energy of $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}= 7.7$ GeV. Using the UrQMD model as event generator we find that the centrality definition has a large effect on the extracted cumulant ratios. Furthermore we find that the finite efficiency for the determination of the centrality introduces an additional systematic uncertainty. Finally, we quantitatively investigate the effects of event-pile up and other possible spurious effects which may …
The collective behaviour of hadronic particles has been observed in high multiplicity proton-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as in deuteron-gold collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). In this work we present the first calculation, in the hydrodynamic framework, of thermal photon radiation from such small collision systems. Owing to their compact size, these systems can reach temperatures comparable to those in central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The thermal photons can thus shine over the prompt background, and increase the low $p_T$ direct photon…
The centrality or the number of initial-state sources $V$ of the system produced in heavy ion collision is a concept that is not uniquely defined and subject to significant theoretical and experimental uncertainties. We argue that a more robust connection between the initial-state sources with final-state multiplicity could be established from the event-by-event multiplicity correlation between two subevents separated in pseudorapidity, $N_a$ vs $N_b$. This correlation is sensitive to two main types of centrality fluctuations (CF): 1) particle production for each source $p(n)$ which smears the…
In arXiv:1705.00745, an initial state "parton model" of quarks scattering off a dense nuclear target was shown to qualitatively reproduce the systematics of multiparticle azimuthal anisotropy cumulants measured in proton/deuteron-nucleus ($pA$) collisions at RHIC and the LHC. The systematics included i) the behavior of the four-particle cumulant $c_2\{4\}$, which generates a real four-particle second Fourier harmonic $v_2\{4\}$, ii) the ordering $v_2\{2\}>v_2\{4\}\approx v_2\{6\}\approx v_2\{8\}$ for two-, four-, six-, and eight-particle Fourier harmonics, iii) the behavior of so-called symmet…
Fluctuations of the baryon number in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are a promising observable to explore the structure of the QCD phase diagram. The cumulant ratios in heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies ($\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} < 7$ GeV) have not been studied to date. We investigate the effects of mean field potential and clustering on the cumulant ratios of baryon and proton number distributions in Au+Au collisions at beam energy of 1.23 GeV$/$nucleon as measured by the HADES Collaboration at GSI. Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) and the JAM model are used t…
We demonstrate on simple examples that oscillatory behaviour of moments of multiplicity distributions P(n) observed in e^+e^- annihilations, in hadronic pp collisions and in collisions on nuclei, p+A, is to a large extend caused by the experimental artifact of measuring only limited range of P(n). In particular we show that by applying a suitable universal cutt-off procedure to the measured P(n) one gets for reactions mentioned before oscillations of similar magnitude. The location of zeros of oscillations as a function of the rank of moments and their shapes remain, however, distinctively dif…
Flow-like signals including the ridge structure observed in small collision systems that are similar to those in large collision systems have led to questions about the onset of collectivity in nuclear collisions. In this study, we use the string melting version of a multi-phase transport (AMPT) model with or without the sub-nucleon geometry for the proton to study multiparticle cumulants in $p+p$ collisions at 13 TeV. Both versions of the model produce negative $c_{2}\{4 \}$ values at high multiplicities. In addition, the dependence of $c_{2}\{4 \}$ on the parton cross section is non-monotono…
Within the ultrarelativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model, the effect of initial density fluctuations on cumulants of the net-proton multiplicity distribution in Au + Au Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 GeV was investigated by varying the minimum distance $d_{\rm min}$ between two nucleons in the initialization. It was found that the initial density fluctuations increased with the decrease of $d_{\rm min}$ from 1.6 fm to 1.0 fm, and the influence of $d_{\rm min}$ on the magnitude of the net-proton number fluctuation in a narrow pseudorapidity window ($Δη\leq$ 4) was negligible e…
By the generator of the UrQMD model, event statistics for the products of kurtosis ($κ$) and variance ($σ^2$) of net-proton and net-charge multiplicity distributions are carefully studied. It is shown that the statistics at RHIC/BES below $\sqrt {s_{NN}} < 19.6$ GeV are not sufficient for using the method of Centrality Bin Width Correction (CBWC). Corresponding results are systematically underestimated. A way to improve the CBWC method is proposed. It can remove the statistics dependence of the data and reduce the initial size fluctuation as well.
We use a Bayesian-calibrated multistage viscous hydrodynamic model to explore deuteron yield, mean transverse momentum and flow observables in LHC Pb-Pb collisions. We explore theoretical uncertainty in the production of deuterons, including (i) the contribution of thermal deuterons, (ii) models for the subsequent formation of deuterons (hadronic transport vs coalescence) and (iii) the overall sensitivity of the results to the hydrodynamic model -- in particular to bulk viscosity, which is often neglected in studies of deuteron production. Using physical parameters set by a comparison to only …
Mix-cumulants of conserved charge distributions are sensitive observables for probing properties of the QCD medium and phase transition in heavy-ion collisions. To perform precise measurements, efficiency correction is one of the most important step. In this study, using the binomial efficiency model, we derive efficiency correction formulas for mutually exclusive and inclusive variables. The UrQMD model is applied to verify the validity of these formulas for different types of correlations. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of the multiplicity loss and contamination emerging from the par…
The cumulants of baryon multiplicity distribution in relativistic heavy-ion collisions (HICs) have attracted considerable attention recently. It has been conjectured that they may serve as a promising observable to detect the critical end point in the QCD phase diagram, while the cumulants in HICs at intermediate energies have not been widely studied to date. How to interpret the cumulants data at intermediate energies and compare with the data at relativistic energies is now being actively discussed. Both meam-field potential and clustering are highly important to HICs at intermediate energie…
The recent results on net-proton and net-charge multiplicity fluctuations from the beam energy scan program at RHIC have drawn much attention to explore the critical point in the QCD phase diagram. Experimentally measured protons contain contribution from various processes such as secondaries from higher mass resonance decay, production process, and protons from the baryon stopping. Further, these contributions also fluctuate from event to event and can contaminate the dynamical fluctuations due to the critical point. We present the contribution of stopped proton and produced proton fluctuatio…
We derive the general analytical expressions for the statistical uncertainties of cumulants up to fourth order including an efficiency correction. The analytical expressions have been tested with a toy Monte Carlo model analysis. An application to the study of particle multiplicity fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions is investigated. In this derivation, a mathematical proof is given that the validity of an averaged efficiency correction and the fluctuations induced by the non-uniformity of efficiency can be eliminated. The estimation of statistical uncertainties using the analytical formulas …
The study of higher-order moments of a distribution and its cumulants constitute a sensitive tool to investigate the correlations between the particle produced in high energy interactions. In our previous work we have used the Tsallis $q$ statistics, NBD, Gamma and shifted Gamma distributions to describe the multiplicity distributions in $π^-$ -nucleus and $p$ -nucleus fixed target interactions at various energies ranging from P$_{Lab}$ = 27 GeV to 800 GeV. In the present study we have extended our analysis by calculating the moments using the Tsallis model at these fixed target experiment dat…
We argue that a crucial determinant of the acceptance dependence of fluctuation measures in heavy-ion collisions is the range of correlations in the momentum space, e.g., in rapidity, $Δy_{\rm corr}$. The value of $Δy_{\rm corr}\sim1$ for critical thermal fluctuations is determined by the thermal rapidity spread of the particles at freezeout, and has little to do with position space correlations, even near the critical point where the spatial correlation length $ξ$ becomes as large as $2-3$ fm (this is in contrast to the magnitudes of the cumulants, which are sensitive to $ξ$). When the accept…
